Animated classic to return as sequel on Netflix – 31 years after 100%-rated original

I can remember it so well: tuning in to watch Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers, which first aired on BBC1 on Boxing Day back in 1993. Yes, that's over 31 years ago now and, yes, I was very much a youngster then – the very idea of the best streaming services didn't even exist. Yet the show lives on as being an all-time classic for all the family.

It's fitting, then, that Netflix has just revealed a new Wallace & Gromit trailer that's effectively the sequel to The Wrong Trousers, in Wallace & Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl. It'll be hitting the streaming service from 3 January 2025 – sadly not Boxing Day this year! – and I already can't wait to watch.

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As you can see from the trailer above – so you can't call it a spoiler; besides, the title's pun gives it away – A Vengeance Most Fowl brings back Feathers McGraw in a key role. For me, that bird has to go down in history as one of the best silent bad-guys of all time – irrelevant of the fact it's in a family-friendly animation.

Others have very similar sentiments, too, with The Wrong Trousers' 100% Rotten Tomatoes score still standing strong all these years later. It's the natural pick to use as the source for a sequel – although there's plenty to pick from. Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave also has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, but given the Shaun The Sheep spin-offs already extracted from that, I think Aardman has taken the right course here.

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It's great that production company Aardman is still in the driving seat of this one too, with Nick Park remaining an executive there all these years later. The animation studio remains firmly rooted in the country too, based in Bristol. And, fortunately, those of us in the UK will get an early screening ahead of Netflix – as BBC1 has confirmed it will be showing the premier 'this Christmas'.

I'm not sure any other recent movie reveal has excited me quite as much as the return of Wallace & Gromit in this movie-sequel format. I've not been a fan of all Aardman's recent productions, especially the ones with minimal voice-acting, but have high hopes that A Vengeance Most Fowl will be a deserved return to form – and, who knows, another 100% Rotten Tomatoes scorer? We'll have to wait until the Christmas/holidays/new year period to find out...